curios_and_conundrumsfandomcom-20200214-history
Newcomer's Guide
THE STORY SO FAR… ' '''In A Nutshell: '''Two secret organizations- the Order of Sand and Smoke (OSS) and the Society of Zosimos (SZ) have been at odds with each other for some unspecified but lengthy period of time, going back at least over a century. The SZ- the villains of the piece- is shrouded in mystery, and willing to kill to keep it that way. They have been trying to eliminate the OSS, an only slightly less mysterious organization, dating back to at least 1886. The OSS appears to consist of four members (among them a Professor, an Artisan, and an Architect), and membership may be hereditary. The OSS possesses an extensive collection of unspecified artifacts and documents they are attempting to protect from the SZ, who will apparently stop at nothing to bring down the OSS and seize control of the collection . The SZ came close to achieving its goal in 1969 when it killed several members of the OSS at Petroglyphs Provincial Park in Canada. However, at least one member of the OSS (believed to be Andrew McCabe) survived and has gone into hiding. He remains on the run from the SZ, but communicates via clues and coded messages hidden in each issue of ''Curios and Conundrums. '''Prologue - 1.1 The beginnings of this mysterious tale are found in the Prologue issue of C&C. Upon its arrival, subscribers received an assortment of artifacts. Among these were: * OSS membership cards for Anthony Dubois (“The Professor,” inducted 1931), Patrick Morenson (“The Artisan,” inducted 1931) and Horace McCabe (“The Architect,” inducted 1931). * Obituaries (each dated July 16, 1969) for Patrick Morenson, Andrew McCabe, and Steven Ellis, all of whom died in Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The funeral/memorial service for each man is set for July 18, although no year is given except in the case of Steven Ellis, whose service is set for July 18, 1999. In the case of both Patrick and Andrew, a wish is expressed to become acquainted with the anonymous person(s) who left an unidentified statue at the site of the accident. In the case of Steven Ellis, it is asked that the statue please be removed. Patrick is described as a young man about to start college; Andrew is noted as being the youngest member ever inducted into an unnamed Lodge (presumably the OSS, although this is not confirmed); Steven had been a ranger at the park for ten years, but does not appear to have any direct connection to the OSS. * one of two brass tags, one inscribed with “MPC Q8296,” the other inscribed “A0571.” Further information is contained in the article for the New York Socialite, ''written by Christopher Bachman. Strangely, the article has two dates- July 16, 1969 (the same date as the obituaries) and May 2, 2013. Bachman sets out to discover the truth behind the rumors about the mysterious OSS. Apparently, a private room at Delmonico’s has, over the course of several decades, been regularly reserved for the OSS (party of 4), although the most recent reservation had been canceled, due to bereavement (presumably related to the deaths in Petroglyphs Provincial Park). The four men have changed over the decades, but there have always been four, they have paid a good deal of money for their dinner, and their exact identities have remained unknown. The reservation was made from a hotel in Cairo, to which Bachman traveled. However, all his inquiries about the OSS were blocked by hotel staff; there was a reserved table in the lounge, but nobody ever sat at it, and Bachman returned to New York with no further information. '''Puzzles': Finally, the crossword puzzle in this issue of C&C was found to contain a secret message, by rearranging the answers in a new order, based on the parenthetical number after each clue. There were four pictures in the issue unrelated to any articles- a dark crow-like bird, a crown, a bishop's crosier, and a moon and stars. Also of note: The “Mysterious Travel” section highlighted the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, while each horoscope made a reference to a story by a common author. Knick-Knack Metropolis - 1.2 The saga of the OSS continued in Vol. 1, Chapter 2 of C&C, titled “Knick-Knack Metropolis.” Accompanying this issue were several artifacts of note: * a badly burned, but still legible OSS membership card for Andrew McCabe * a charred piece of wood with an evidence tag attached, bearing the date 10/5/69. * a geographic sample analysis * a piece of cloth with a strange symbol on it (tied to an article in this issue) In this issue’s New York Socialite article (dated July 23, 1969), Christopher Bachman continued detailing his investigation into the OSS. While visiting the Brooklyn Museum one evening, he noticed a small sign announcing a small, short term exhibit that had just opened. The exhibit consisted of a small but remarkable collection of exquisite Babylonian statuary. Upon inquiring further, Bachman discovered that this collection was merely a small sampling of a much larger private collection, managed by an outside Curator who was unaffiliated with the Museum. Furthermore, the exhibit had been paid for by none other than the mysterious OSS, from a bank account which had been the source of several large donations, occurring at various intervals since the Museum’s opening in 1895. Bachman was able to obtain the address for the original collection- a warehouse at an unspecified location in Louisiana. Upon arriving there, however, Bachman discovered that he was too late- the warehouse had burned to the ground. Standing off to one side, Bachman observed a man heavily bundled in “all manner” of clothing (including what appeared to be a Canadian army jacket), thereby obscuring his features. Upon noticing Bachman, the man quickly fled, but not before dropping a card, on which only the letters “Andr” and “Arch” were still legible. Bachman pocketed the card and returned to his hotel, where he found a message waiting for him. Puzzles: The hidden message in this issue’s crossword puzzle could be read in the same way as the previous: rearranging the answers by the parenthetical numbers after the clues. Along the bottom of the pages of Knick Knack Metropolis, readers observed a series of stick figures arranged in various positions. This was determined to be a replication of the “'dancing man'” cipher used in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” with each stick figure representing a different letter of the alphabet. The four pictures unrelated to the articles were a picture of the Pieta (captioned “Not the ‘e’”); a woman with a child in a stroller (captioned “not the stroller or its contents”); a ball of twine; and a box of bocce balls (captioned “not the game”). Some of us think this one was a bit of a stretch... Also of note: The “Mysterious Travel” section highlighted the island of Tristan de Cunha, while the horoscopes referenced the works of a common author. The Bridge Letter We now pause for an interlude, and one of the most (in)famous puzzles in the short but exciting history of C&C. Along the bottom of the pages of Knick Knack Metropolis, readers observed a series of stick figures arranged in various positions. This was determined to be a replication of the “dancing man” cipher used in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” with each stick figure representing a different letter of the alphabet. When decoded, the dancing men, through a series of subsequent puzzles, led sleuths to a certain website, in which was hidden a video. The content of the video clip provides much fodder for speculation as to the history of the MPC, and the true identity of the man in it. At any rate, the video led to an encoded letter, hidden in the real world under a real bridge in Toronto. With the letter, there was a small mirror labeled “1,” and a sheet of paper containing hints as to how to decode the letter- the phrase “Vigenere loves a good petroglyph” (over which was written the number 2) and a recipe for Caesar salad to serve 3 (over which was written the number 3). It was surmised that the coded text had been reversed, put through a Vigenere cipher, and finally put through a Caesar shift. And there we hit a brick wall. For over a year, the Bridge Letter remained unsolved. We tried every permutation of the text, used every Vigenere code word we could think of, all to no avail. Finally, word of our desperation must have gotten back to Andrew, for one evening, as we were once again puzzling over the cipher, a mysterious “A.M.” appeared in our chatroom. Some investigation on his part had revealed that the software used to encrypt the letter had been changed in between when he encoded it and it was found. These changes rendered the cipher essentially unbreakable. Luckily, before he left, AM gave us a new (and greatly truncated) version of text, which can be found on the Bridge Letter Text page. Although this section of the Bridge Letter has been decoded, its exact meaning still remains unclear- to date, no mention of ballrooms or claws has appeared in any C&C issues or communications from Andrew. Ye Martian Weyfarere - 1.3 Several artifacts of note arrived with this issue: * A menu from the Waldorf-Astoria, dated April 23, 19--. The menu was emblazoned with the SZ logo, and the meal was the same as that served in the novel Babette’s Feast. * A postcard with a sepia-tone image of a city on one side, and a note on the other that read, “Go to a place that does not exist and visit Andrew. You will see such sites!” This led to the discovery of another page on the Sand and Smoke website:www.sandandsmoke.org/Andrew. The page displayed only a countdown to a date several weeks out. This later led to a broadcast, discussed below. * 1 of 3 small cards, each with a different picture and text. About the Small Cards: Important: These cards, and the information tied to them, have been used repeatedly by the MPC since their release. You will want to solve these, and keep the knowledge of them handy, going forward. All available evidence leads us to believe that there were (or were originally intended to be) three cards. To date, for some unknown reason, only two of them have actually surfaced- the third one has not been seen and no one has reported receiving it. Of the two cards that people did receive, one had the picture of the Yellow Sign found on the MPC page advertising their “King in Yellow” experience. The text on this card read “A Danish nobleman with an unlucky name.” The second card had the picture of a clock found on the “Tempus Fugit” experience page, and the text “An Arctic bird’s view of Grendel’s foe.” At the time, the MPC offered only three experiences, and so it was presumed that the missing third card had the picture associated with the “Risen” experience (a man tied to chair), although no guesses could be made as to the text. Further hints appeared in a post Bernard made in the Sitting Room consisting of the following clues: * "If you are on the hunt for a very large dog, it is important to know that theater folk believe his Scottish counterpart is far less lucky." * "Two lessons must be learned to track down a hero. Firstly you are looking for the best dressed birds out there, and secondly the name you want sounds obscurely like you are howling at an auto-immune disease." * "If you are looking for a man who's handshake gives you the shivers, it is vital you determine his capacity for ovum consumption." The third clue originally seemed to refer to Cool Hand Luke, but when we attempted to use that text to decode the related cipher, it didn’t work. I'll tell you for free that it refers to another famous Luke in a rather large and famous book. This issue’s New York Socialite article was preceded by the following note: “As of print deadline, we have not received this week’s submission from our Socialite reporter. In the interim, please enjoy this article from our archives. We apologize, and it is our hope to continue the current bi-line in the following issue. article was Originally printed August 3rd, 1911, edited for a modern readership.” The article then went on to detail the arrest of Horace McCabe, a well-known New York banker and philanthropist. McCabe was noted as being the youngest ever board of directors for Kidder, Peabody & Co, and described as having a “truly meteoric” rise. He was also apparently known for his philanthropy, including his generous donations to various charitable causes (often centered around the preservation of historic buildings), and his funding of many exhibits of art and antiquities (his own collection of which was considered to be one of the “most spectacular” in America). However, as related in the article, McCabe had, only a few days prior, been arrested following a scene at the Waldorf-Astoria. Earlier that day, many large, black cars had been seen to arrive at the entrance, and several men, each flanked by personal guards, had entered the hotel and gone straight to the private elevator. The identities of the men could not be determined, due to them all wearing their collars pulled up, their hats pulled down, and sporting tinted glasses. Horace McCabe was in the lobby at the time and attempted to join whatever private event was taking place. When he was denied entry, he became agitated and began to yell phrases such as “You can’t hide from me!”, “We are on to you!”, and “The OSS won’t be intimidated by the likes of you, you pack of iconoclast crooks!” Security personnel attempted to restrain him, at which point McCabe became violent, the police were called, and he was arrested. The cause of McCabe’s apparent dislike of the men meeting at the hotel was not known by anyone interviewed, nor was the exact nature of the group in question. All that could be unearthed as that the group wielded a great deal of money and influence, and held regular functions at the hotel. The menu that accompanied this issue of C&C was a discarded copy from their previous event. Puzzles: This issue’s crossword puzzle message was slightly more complicated to discover, as no sets of parenthetical numbers accompanied the clues. This was remedied in the Sitting Room with a post from Bernard, entitled "Numerology". The four pictures consisted of a team of volleyball players performing a “set,” a pair of angel wings, an arm in a cast, and two pool cues. Also of note: The “Mysterious Travel” section profiled the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, and the horoscopes made reference to the works of a common author. And finally: when the countdown on Andrew’s page at the OSS website ran down, an audio file appeared containing a radio broadcast. A transcript of the broadcast can be found on the wiki. It proved to be the first of several ciphers making use of the books referenced on the postcards described above. The first individuals who followed the directions in the broadcast subsequently received small booklets containing the keys to several number ciphers (one for each week of the year). These were later used to decode messages from Andrew. However, no one has received such a booklet in quite some time. The Feline Nemesis - 1.4 The stories continued in this next issue… Curios for the Feline Nemesis included: * a small canvas bag, stamped with two symbols, and filled with pebbles, feathers, and a scrap of paper with a triangle on it. The symbols on the bag are a Native American symbol for Butterfly, and the Celtic symbol for Three Goddess Moon. This is likely tied to the several articles on witchcraft in this issue. * a photo card depicting an 1892 lithograph by Joseph Baker of a witch trial, which also presumably ties in with the many articles in this issue about witchcraft * a crumpled note, which reads, "I tracked them to four locations. They meet in the middle." This is likely the note referenced in this issues New York Socialite column, found clenched in the hand of the deceased Christopher Bachman. The New York Socialite column continued, and it was with great sadness we learned that Christopher Bachman was found dead in his hotel room in Istanbul. He had presumably been trying to track the OSS, and while the official report states that he died from a drug overdose, neither the publication nor his wife believe that story. They are offering a reward for any information about his death, or about the note found in his hand (see above). Puzzles: The crossword puzzle yet again yielded a hidden message, presumably from AM. It could be solved by placing the answers in order based on the parenthetical numbers after each clues. There were two series of jumbled letters and numbers on pages 3 and 7, respectively. The hidden message can be read by associating the letters with the numbers, as both are written, then unjumbling numerically. As in the other issues, there are four image'''s that have something in common with one another. In this case, the images are of a hand, a second place ribbon, a cuckoo, and a grandfather/grandchild. '''Also of Note: The Mysterious Travel section covered Cape Verde, while the horoscopes were tied to a common author '' '' The Venerable Store of Nell - 1.5 This was likely the most puzzle-filled issue to date, and many of the hidden messages either came from AM or referred back to the main story arcs. Curios for the Venerable Store of Nell included: * a series of Paper Scraps, marked with different dates, with a brief phrase or two. These are connected to the New York Socialite article in this issue, in which Victoria Bachman’s secretary took “tips” about her husband’s whereabouts from a call line. In the correct order, the message appears as an acrostic. * a Postcard with an image of a fez on one side and some Arabic script that spelled out in English fashion “al Maghreb”, which is believed to be Morocco. On the opposite side, it appears blank, but...? This postcard was also mentioned in the New York Socialite column. * a ticket for the Orient Express, for a Randolph Sinclair, although the ticket numbers varied. This is thought to tie only into the Mysterious Travel section, as far as we know. * a forged metal trinket, identified as a “troll cross”, a Scandinavian charm to ward off evil spirits and bad magic. * and lastly, a small scrap of paper of a sort of stick figure drawing, with the words, “can be found in the country where four travelers meet”. From the member’s handbook, we learned that it is a sort of shorthand for a lantern, one of the symbols of the MPC. The New York Socialite column continued in this issue, picked up by Victoria Bachman, the late Christopher Bachman’s widow. In this issue, she relates her journey to Istanbul to investigate her husband’s death. In the room, late one night, she discovered a stylized carving of SZ above the place where her husband’s body had been. Baffled, she returned home to investigate further, offering a reward for information. She collected a series of single-line tips, and one night discovered a blank postcard in her mailbox (see above for both). All of this convinced her that her husband had absolutely been murdered. Puzzles: A series of very small numbers ran along the tops of each page, preceded by the phrase, “The Bound Man”. This can be solved using the small cards clues above. Letters in the margins could be observed trailing down many of the pages, some of them backwards. When copied down in the correct order, a message can be read. This is thought to connect with the scrap of paper from the previous issue ("I tracked them to four locations; they meet in the middle") and from this issue. Although this puzzle has not been definitively solved, the working theory is that the “four locations” are the four places previously profiled in the “Mysterious Travel” features (Giant’s Causeway in Ireland; Tristan de Cunha, to the south of Africa; Arkhangelsk, in Russia; and Cape Verde, off the western coast of Africa- other combinations of locations mentioned throughout C&C were tried, but this was the only combination that yielded any kind of workable result). When an X is drawn on a map using these four points, the lines intersect over Morocco (similarly, if the four points are connected one to the other, they form a roughly trapezoidal shape that is centered around Morocco). What significance this has is unknown, and thus far, we have no confirmation that Morocco is, in fact, the correct location; however, it does tie in with the Moroccan postcard that accompanied The Feline Nemesis, and the front page of the MPC website features a picture of a Moroccan lighthouse. As with all issues, a message was hidden within the answers to the crossword puzzle. Like many of the others, the answer can be found fairly straightforwardly, by rearranging the answers based on the parenthetical numbers after each clue. Once the broadcast went live, users scrambled to solve it as they had the previous one. In an odd twist, the source text indicated by the message (the same as with the first broadcast) did not produce any viable message from the string of numbers. That part, if it does indeed contain a message, is still unsolved as of this writing. The numbers do match any of the three mentioned texts, nor any other books that have been tried based on various hunches. However, a series of pings could be heard behind the numbers, and it was discovered that it was a message in Morse Code. By isolating the pings and viewing the recording under spectrogram settings in the free program “Audible”, the dots and dashes of the code were more readily picked out; some members could hear both, while others could hear only the dashes. Through agonizing efforts, the message was finally parsed. As of this writing, while a few more clues have been given as to the identity of the person mentioned, no name, title, or combination of the two have yielded any results on the OSS website. Concurrent with the shipping of the issue came a cipher in the SR from AM, in a post with no subject (which is how it can still be located, if one wishes). The cipher read: 20 5 11 3 7 13 19 14 15 19 9 13 19 14 9 19 15 15 10 9 1 19 15 5 10 22 16 27 7 10 10 16 4 3 18 20 5 4 1 1 5 19 9 20 20 19 11 23 19 4 25 8 9 14 20 10 15 19 9 17 10 27 26 19 9 10 22 11 20 10 9. While it could be solved with brute force, a few members had received code-key booklets in the mail, organized by the week of the year, and the appropriate key yielded the answer: “Thank you for your offers of help / keeping this short to avoid brute force / more later”. The four image commonalities, which showed images of a mountain (identified as Mt. Fuji), a map, a raincoat (remember the MPC is based in Canada), and ingredients for the dessert ambrosia. Also of Note: The Mysterious Travel section, which highlighted not a single place, but the Orient Express as a mode of transportation, and the Horoscopes were tied to a common author. **With all the chapters in front of us, the “secret title” of the quarterly was determined to be a single word, hinted at in each of the issues.** ''''